CHOCOLATE NEMESIS

This is a flour less chocolate cake from the River Cafe (one of my favourite restaurants in London, very expensive but so wonderful) that we cooked for Christmas day. It is spectacularly gorgeous. You can get the recipe from the internet and the River Cafe has even put it on Youtube. You need:

- 5 eggs
-340 gr dark chocolate (preferably 75%)
- 225 gr butter
-210 gr sugar
- 100 ml of water


Preheat the oven at 120 degrees and grease and line a cake tin. Melt the chocolate and butter by putting them in a bowl over a pan with boiling water (the bowl should not touch the water). Meanwhile, beat the eggs (keep the egg shells for later) and 120 gr of sugar for a long time (its volume should increase 4 times).  While you are doing this, boil the remaining 70 gr of sugar with the water ( it should boil for 3 minutes). When the chocolate is melted, mix the sugar syrup in and then pour all this into the eggs' mixture. Put the mixture in the tin and put the tin into another tin filled with boiling water. Put the egg shells into the water so that you do not get any bubbles int he cake.  Bake for 50 minutes and then let it cook down completely within the water.

I did this with two of my sons and 5 more nieces and nephews (four of them under four). I do not have words to describe what a mess they made. They loved it though.

MY CHRISTMAS TURKEY

In Spain celebrate Christmas Eve with a big dinner. Due to the Hollywood influence, turkey has become the food of choice though luckily (this was a really clever move) we did not import the tradition of eating brussels-sprouts.  I have cooked this turkey recipe for as long as I can remember.

You need:

- a turkey, as big as possible, as the whole point of Christmas is to have as many people as you can fit  around the table.

- if you want to give the turkey a bath you need : a big (bigger than the turkey) bucket  full of water, two bay leaves, two mandarines, an onion, two oranges, one lemon, a big handful of parsley, a glass of port, a teaspoon of nutmeg, two cinnamon sticks a handful of coarse salt and a handful of sugar.

- 5 (big) cooking apples (peeled and quartered)
- two handfuls of raisins
- a handful of sultanas
- a handful of dried currants
- three handfuls of dried apricots
- 2 handfuls of dried figs
- three onions ( peeled and quartered)
- two handful of pine nuts
- 6 bay leaves
- 110 gr of butter (room temperature)
- a glass and a half of port

I normally give the turkey a 'bath' the night before the day I  cook it. To be perfectly honest, I am not sure it makes any difference to the taste, but it sort of gets everybody into the Christmas mood and the children, especially the little ones, love to throw the ingredients into the bucket. If you want to do this just get the turkey into the bucket, cover it with water and pour all the ingredients  (cut the onion, orange and lemon in quarters and squeeze them a bit as you are getting them into the bucket) into it. Leave the bucket (covered with a lid) in a cold place. One of my little nieces is absolutely convinced she has seen the turkey swim and actually move its legs in this bath - there you have the magic of Christmas!

The following day take the turkey our of the bath and pat dry it. Put it on a roasting tray (if you want a really moist turley then roast it in a clay roasting tray, as clay retains the water much better than metal trays). Salt the turley inside the cavities. Mix the dried fruit, apples, onions and pine nuts and stuff the turkey with them ( both the front and rear cavities). Put your hands between the breasts and the skin so that the skin becomes loose and massage the breasts (I know, just do not think about it!) with 80 gr of butter. Finally put the three bay leaves between each breast and the skin. Salt the turkey all around and cover with the rest of the butter. Put two glasses of water in the bottom of the tray together with the port. If you have any remaining stuffing add it to the roasting tray.

I do 50 minutes per kilo at 200 degrees and cover the turkey with foil after 50 minutes and then I uncover it for the last 20 minutes. I also let it rest for 20-30 minutes covered with foil before eating it. Eat it with roast potatoes and carrots or any other vegetable you like (as you may have gathered I detest brussels sprouts). It is a massive success year after year.

CRANBERRY JELLY

A must for Christmas.

You need:

- 1.5 kg cranberries
- 300 ml red wine
- 200 ml water
-sugar (around 150 gr)

Boil the cranberries, wine and water and let them simmer for 45 minutes. Put the mixture over a muslin cloth and let it drip during the whole night (do not squeeze the muslin cloth). The following morning measure 155 gr of granulated sugar for each 300 ml of the red juice. if you get more or less juice then let your kids calculate the right proportion. Put the juice and sugar in a pan over medium heat and let it boil for 20 minutes (or if you have a food thermometer, until it reaches jam temperature) Pour into sterilised jars.

FILO MINCE PIES

These are always a winner and are made in no time at all. I actually prefer them to proper mince pies. Really easy for the children to help as well. You need:

- a packet of filo pastry
- a jar of mincemeat
- 100 gr of butter - melted
- a muffin tray

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Cut the filo into squares - you will need three squares per muffin hole. Grease the muffin holes with the melted butter. Then 'paint' each of the filo squares with melted butter. Overlap three squares on each muffin hole (see picture). Then fill in each case with the mincemeat. Finally take a little bit of the remaining filo and cut it into little squares (do this with scissors), cover the little squares with butter and sprinkle them on top of the mincemeat (you can avoid this step, but it gives it a nice crust). Bake in the oven for12-13 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

BEETROOT SOUP

I love this soup. As indeed anything beetroot. Making this with children, though, means getting their hands ( and yours) stained with pink (a colour that my children are not very fond of) I bought once latex gloves for all, but it makes a bit of a scary picture. This is a better trick: if you get your hands stained, get an orange and rub your hands with the white side of its rind - magic.

You need:
- 4 beetroots
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 2 cooking apples ( diced)
- 2 onions ( diced)
- 2 teaspoons of dill
- 500 l of water
- salt
- one tablespoon of vinegar

Wash carefully the beetroots, put them in a pan, cover them with water and boil them for 30 minutes. Then put them under the cold tap of water and get rid of the skins (this is the 'scary pink' bit).

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions, beetroots (quartered) and apples. Fry for 5 minutes. Then add the salt and water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-17 minutes. Add the vinegar and blend it. Serve with a bit of dill on top.

CHICKPEAS WITH SQUID

I was served this dish earlier this week at a business working lunch in Madrid. I was dying to ask the waiter for the recipe, but did not dare to do it out of concern that asking for a recipe at a business lunch where everybody else was male would make me look fluffy... I know... all that talk about feminism… Still, I have tried to replicate the recipe and tested it on some female friends (who are as 'up there' on gender rights as I am, but agree it is not OK to ask for recipes at business lunches...though they actually think it is OK to talk about football!)

You may think I am being immodest, but this is even better that the dish I tried.  So perhaps not asking for the recipe was not a bad idea after all...

You need:
- 200 gr chickpeas (soak them in water overnight)
- two table spoons of oil plus more oil for frying the garnish squid.
- half a green pepper
- a tomato (peeled)
- an onion (quartered)
- a quarter of a teaspoon of paprika (pimenton)
-900 ml fish stock (I do not often use stock but it actually makes a big difference here)
- a bay leaf
-a teaspoon of parsley
- two squids (cut it in mouthful pieces)
- 3 tablespoons of flour (or even better, 1 tablespoon of plain flour and 2 of chickpeas flour)
- salt

Put the stock, green pepper, tomato, onion, bay leaf, parsley and oil in a pan and heat it until it gets warm. Then add the chickpeas and salt. Let it boil and then simmer for 1.30 hours.  Take the tomato, onion, pepper and a cup of water out of the pan and blend it. Put it back into the pan and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Separately heat a pan (do not add any oil). Reserve the 'legs' of the squid and two squares of squid per person for the final garnish. When the pan is hot add all the squid except for the garnish and wait for  2-3 minutes so that they get a hard consistency. Add the squid to the pan with the chickpeas and boil for 10 more minutes.


Finally heat olive oil, coat the squid with the flour/s and fry them until they are golden on all sides (3 minutes in total)

Serve the chickpeas in bowls and add the fried squid on top of the soup as garnish.

The children liked seeing the change of texture of the squid when they are put on the pan. And my little ones never fails to enjoy any blending.

MINCE PIES

Now that you know how to make mincemeat, this is the way to use it. Invaluable for all those Christmas Carol services and school events.  I like them with very thin pastry: the key to this is to roll the pastry between two pieces of cling film. It allows you to roll it really thin and it also means you will make very little mess.

The rule for the pastry is twice the amount of flour for the amount of fat. We use:

- 140 gr plain flour

- a pinch of salt

- 70 gr butter (it is even better if you do half butter and half vegetable shortening) 

- 2.5 table spoons of cold water

-15 g of butter to grease the tray 

- a jar of mincemeat

- 2 tablespoons of milk

- a mould for muffins or tartlets 

Put the water into the fridge.

In a food processor mix the flour, salt and butter and pulse it until it looks like breadcrumbs. Then add the water and pulse again until the pastry comes together into a ball. Cover it with cling film and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven at 200 degrees.

Roll the pastry between two pieces of cling film. Cut it in round shapes with a  cutter or a cup. Grease the tin with the butter, put a round of pastry in each tartlet hole. Put one and a half teaspoons of mincemeat on top. Then cut little starts of the pastry and cover the mincemeat with them (you can obviously do this with a bigger single star cutter or any other shape or none at all) Paint the pastry with the milk. Bake for 25 minutes.    

MINCEMEAT

First Sunday of Advent and rainy weather, so the perfect time to make mincemeat. Over the years we have adapted a recipe that originally came from Delia (we have simplified it a lot) and works very well.

- 1/2 kg of cooking apples (diced)
- 300 g raisins
- 300 g sultanas
- 300 g currants
- 250 g mixed peel
- 300 g brown sugar
- zest and juice of two oranges and two lemons

- 50 gr sliced almonds

-225 shredded suet
- a pinch of cinnamon
- a pinch of nutmeg
- half a glass of rum (or brandy)

Mix all the ingredients in a big pan. Cook on medium heat for 45-50 minutes. Pour the mixture into sterilised jars (see our plum and damson jam recipe). As the jars are cooling down put them upside down so that you get rid of any air. The jars last for a long time (and certainly until Christmas)

PUMPKIN SOUP

This is the first time the picture has been made by my youngest son. In fairness, the overall result is so-so as he managed so kick the plate a few times with the camera and smudge the cream (boys!)  but he was rightly most proud that you could see the detail in the pumpkin seeds.

You need:
-500 kg pumpkin ( you can also do this with butternut squash)
- half a red pepper (diced)
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 3 onions (sliced thinly)
- a pinch of nutmeg
- 600 ml water
- a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
- 2 handfuls of pumpkin seeds
- 2 tablespoons of single cream

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and fry over low heat for 5 minutes, then add the pumpkin (diced) and the red pepper and fry it all for 10 minutes under medium heat. Add the water, nutmeg, and salt and let it it simmer for 20 minutes. Add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and lt it simmer for a further 4 minutes. Blend with a hand blender. As you are going to serve it add the two tablespoons of cream. Toast the pumpkin seeds by frying them for 2-3 minutes in a pan over medium heat (watch carefully as they burn easily) and scatter them over the soup just as you are going to serve it.

I like this soup very thick, but if you are serving it to children then use 800 ml of water as they seem to prefer it when it is a bit more liquid.

MILK ROSES

This is absolutely scrumptious - delicate but not in a naff way. We got the idea from Martha Stewart, whose website I normally check at this time of the year as we approach the dreadful moment of 'the Xmas decoration homework' at school. It is high up there in my particular scale of homework dislikes in fierce competition with the Eastern hat. Perhaps one day we could all cut the pretending and teachers could simply give the task directly to the parents (or, more pointedly, to the mums!!) Anyway, we have changed the recipe a fair amount, and the individual portions are much nicer than a whole ruffled milk pie.

You need:
- a packet of philo sheets (10)
- 75 gr butter
- 3 eggs
- 375 ml milk
- 100 gr granulated sugar
- a teaspoon of vanilla
- icing sugar for dusting
- a muffin tray

Preheat the oven at 175 degrees. Melt the butter and coat the muffin tray well. Take each sheet or philo and ruffled it along its longest side. You should get a ruffled long, role. Roll this along its shortest side (see picture) and put it into a muffin hole. Do this with all the other nine sheets. Paint the top of the philiopastry with butter and bake for 15 minutes.

While this is in the oven heat the milk until it is about to boil. Separately mix the sugar and eggs and then pout in the milk very slowly while you wish it ( just as if you are doing to make a custard). Add the vanilla and put it in a jar.

Take the muffin tray off the oven and pour the custard in each hole making sure you pour it on one side (so that the top of the philo pastry does not get wet) Fill in each hole to half its size. Put it back into the oven for 15-20 minutes).

When you take them out let them cool down a little. Then run a knife along the sides of each mould so that the roses come out easily. Dust with icing sugar.

Children can do this all, but struggle a bit to pour the custard on the side of the philo roses, as they 'float ' so they wobble. Once they have managed with one they seem to get the hang of it though.

RED FETA DIP

This is hardly a recipe, but it makes a really tasty dip. You need:

- a packet of feta cheese
- a jar of piquillo peppers
- juice of half a lemon
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- half a teaspoon of parsley

Mix all the ingredients together by pulsing them in a blender. Any kid can do it provided you supervise the blender.

SWEET WINE JELLY

This is a nice home made present for Xmas. It goes well with ham, any cheese (though in my view it is better with cream, cheddar and manchego-type cheeses than Stilton or blue ones). It also goes well with pates and foie.

You need:

-1100 ml sweet wine

- 800 gr sugar

- one bottle of liquid pectin (177 ml)

- juice of a lemon

Put the wine and sugar in a pan and heat it until the sugar is dissolved and it starts to boil. Add the pectin and lemon jounce and boil again until the mixture raises 105 degrees (it takes around 20 minutes). Pour into sterilised jars (see our jam recipes for the sterilisation method - we normally turn them upside down as they are cooling down). 

Be very careful if the children help with this as they can easily burn themselves. The alcohol of the wine evaporates with the boiling so there is no problem for them to eat this. 

SPINACH BALLS WITH CHEESE

We did this some weeks ago to use spinach leaves that we had seeded months ago in a tiny corner of the garden. As we did not pick them in August the leaves were far too tough to be eaten on their own.  The children really liked this dish and it should be even better with properly tender spinach leaves.

You need:
- 500 gr spinach
- 2 handfuls of pinenuts
- salt
- a teaspoon of parsley
- 2 spring onions
- 2 eggs
- salt
- a tablespoon of milk
- two tables spoons of plain flour
- two table spoons of chickpea flour
- olive oil

for the sauce:
- 250 gr creme fraiche
- 50 gr milk
- 200 gr of grated cheese (you can also do this with blue cheese, but since I am happy every time my children agree to eat spinach I though adding the blue cheese would be pushing my luck a bit)
- salt and pepper

Clean the spinach leaves. Put them in pan with a lid with a tablespoon of oil and wait until they are wilted (turning them around a couple of times). This should take 2-3 minutes.  Take them off the pan and put them on kitchen paper or a clean tea towel twisting them as much as possible so that you get rid of all the moisture. Put the leaves in a food processor with the parsley, spring onions and pine nuts and pulse them 5 or 6 times. Then add the eggs, milk, flours and salt (not too much as the sauce has the saltiness of the cheese) and let the mixture rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Make little balls (the size does not matter much) with the mixture. Heat a generous amount of olive oil  and fry the balls on all sides until they are golden ( one or two minutes per side). Take them off the oil and reserve.

Separately mix all the ingredients for the sauce and heat it until the cheese dissolves. Put the balls into the sauce and serve ( you can also make a light béchamel for this, but it will make the dish heavier)

By far the most successful way to get my children to eat spinach.

ROSEHIP SYRUP

We picked a lot of rosehips last week and have made syrup with them. It tastes great and it is meant to have a lot of vitamin C as well (provided you can close your eyes to the enormous amount of sugar this has…which is pretty difficult as 'the whole world' is now talking about sugar ... and I agree with 'the whole world' on this)

You need:

- 1 Kg of rosehips
- 1 l of water
- caster sugar
- pectine
- sterilised bottles/jars

Clean the rose hips and boil them in 1 l of water for 25 minutes. Then strain the liquid through a muslin cloth (a paper coffee filter will do as well). Measure the remaining liquid and add 300 g of sugar and 40 ml of pectin for each 500 ml of liquid. Bring back to the boil for 10 minutes and decant in the sterilised jars (see the way to sterilise jars in any of our jam recipes)

PUMPKIN GRATIN

This is a good way to use all those leftover halloween pumpkins.

You need:

- 400 gr pumpkin
- 2 onions (diced thinly)
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- salt
- 4 handfuls of stale bread
- 2 handfuls of grated cheese

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Fry the onions over medium/low heat for 10 minutes. Salt the pumpkin. Add the pumpkin to the onions and let it fry over high heat for 4 minutes and then lower the heat to minimum and fry it for another 15 minutes. Transfer to an oven-proof shallow dish. Separately make thick breadcrumbs with the stale bread in a food processor (just pulse it 3 or 4 times). Mix the breadcrumbs, cheese and two tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle this over the pumpkin. Put it all in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes and then under the grill for three minutes or so until golden.

TAPENADE

This is a great French dip that booths kids and adults seem to love. It tastes great on crostini like toast but can be also eaten with grilled fish, goat cheese, roasted vegetables or just eaten with Ryvita Thins (such a great invention). Dips are good ways to get children to try ingredients that otherwise they will not even touch such as capers or anchovies.

You need:
- 2 jars of pitted black olives (strong flavour olives are best for adults, but that means you have to pitt the olives, which in fairness takes only five minutes, but for some reason those five minutes seem like an eternity - so if you like me, do not have a patient disposition and do not mind a bit of imperfection, just use to tins of pitted olives) - 300 g
-1 small tin of anchovy fillets (without the oil) - 30 g
- 2 handfuls of capers
- 1 handful of parsley
- 7 tablespoons of olive oil
- two handfuls of ground almonds

Put all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse them until you get a paste. This keeps for 7 days in a jar (cover the top with a if of olive oil)

CHICKEN WINGS

It is party mood with my children and their friends when I make this.
You need:

- 500 gr chicken wings (kids love them, and teenagers can go through a mountain on these, so you may want to double the quantities…)
- two and a half table spoons of tomato ketchup.
- five table spoons of dark soya sauce
- three table spoons of honey

Mix all the ingredients together, put the wings in a roasting tray, cover the wings with cling film and leave them in the fridge (I normally make this in the morning and cook them at night). When yo are going to cook the wings preheat the oven at 200 degrees and cook for 45 minutes to an hour. Eat immediately.

PIG's CHEEKS IN WINE SAUCE

This is a truly gorgeous dish, and for very little money. Pig's cheeks are a very underrated cut - half a kilo of pig's cheeks feeds five people and costs under five pounds but if you cook it properly the meat is a real delicacy.

The best manner to each pig's cheeks is roasted, but that would require roasting a whole pig's head, which I think might be one step too close to the food chain for my kids.  Anyway, if you do want to try this, preheat the over at 200 degrees, put the pig's head in your sink and clean it well, pour boiling water over the head at least three times to get rid of any germs, dry it well, add salt (all around), cover the ears with foil and then put it into the oven for 1.5 hours (ears side down). After that time turn the head around, uncover the ears and roast for another 1-1.15 hours.

If the head is not for you, then try this much more civilised recipe which is divine. You need:
- 10 pig's cheeks
- salt
- flour ( 3-4 tablespoons)
- 2 carrots (diced)
- 2 onions (diced)
- 1 clove of garlic (sliced)
- a stick of celery (sliced thinly)
- a red peper (diced)
- a leek (chopped thinly)
- a pinch of parsley leaves (chopped thinly)
- a bay leave
- half a litre of red wine though I prefer to use 250 ml of red wine and 250 ml of sweet wine, like Malaga, Pedro Jimenez, Marsala or even port.
- one glass of water
- one and a half tablespoons of vinegar
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil

 Salt the cheeks, dust them with flour and fry them in the olive oil on both sides until they get golden (a couple of minutes on each side). Take them off the pan and reserve them. Then add all the vegetables, fry them for 5 minutes over medium heat, add the checks, pour the wine and water, wait until there are bubbles in the sauce, cover with a lid, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 1 hour. Then add the vinegar and let it simmer for another 45 minutes.  The result should be really tender, buttery meat with a thick sauce.

This tastes better if you eat it the following day. I serve it with potato cubes fried in olive oil (just heat the oil, fry the potato cubes for 3 minutes on each side, put them on kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil and add salt).

BEANS WITH CLAMS - ALUBIAS CON ALMEJAS

This is a very typical dish from Asturias, one of the most stunning regions in Spain where we go every year on holiday. The logo of Asturias is 'a natural paradise', and it is one of the few places where you can find proper alpine-like mountains just forty minutes away from a gorgeous coast line.  If you like outdoor activities and sport, look no further. 

The dish is also the only way to make my youngest son eat clams. 

You need:

-       500 gr white beans 

-       1 onion (cut in two)

-       half a green pepper

-       2 cloves of garlic

-       a pinch of paprika

-       a bay leaf

-       water  - enough to cover the beans, around 1.5 l and then a couple of additional glasses of water (though if you have good fish stock this will be even better)

-       a pinch of saffron

-       a quarter of a teaspoon of parsley (chopped thinly)

-       salt

-       800 gr good clams

-       2 tablespoons olive oil

Soak the beans in water overnight. Then put them in a big pan with the water and salt,  green pepper, onion and garlic cloves (all vegetables should be whole) the olive oil and the bay leaf. Let it come to the boil and then reduce the heat to minimum and let it simmer. After on hour throw in the paprika, saffron, salt and also a glass of cold water (in Asturias this is said to ‘scare the beans’ and makes them softer). Add another glass of cold water after another half an hour. After that time take the pepper, garlic cloves and onion out with a bit of the cooking liquid and blend it. Then put the blended liquid back into the pan. Normally the overall cooking time is 2 hours (though it can take up to 2.45  hours depending on the size and quality of the white beans. As you can see in the picture ours were gigantic. In any case the final result should be silky beans, as soft as butter.

Separately (and after the beans are cooked) heat a frying pan, add the clams (clean them well beforehand) and half a glass of white wine. Wait until the clams open up (discard those that do not), put the clams on top of the beans and also add the clams liquids to it (put it though a sift first as sometimes clams have a bit on sand in them). 

Serve immediately.

Trust me on this one: it really is paradise food.

DUCK BREAST

Duck is always a winner with my children. Best if roasted and served with chinese pancakes and shop bought plum sauce.  But this recipe with duck breast is a big success too and  it is very easy to make.

You need:
-two duck breasts
- 1.5 onions (diced thinly)
- 250 gr red berries (either fresh or frozen)
- 100 ml red wine
- 20 ml balsamic vinegar
- 150 ml water
- a table spoon of honey
- two tablespoons of olive oil
- salt

First prepare the sauce: fry the onion in the olive oil until it is soft (12 minutes, firt medium and then low heat) Add the red fruit, a pinch of salt and the honey . After two minutes add the wine and vinegar and after another two minutes add the water. Let it all simmer for 20 minutes so that it reduces by half. Then blend it (I like this with the pips in, but if you prefer it smooth - as my children do-  then sift the sauce through a colander). If you prefer it sweeter then just add a bit more honey…simple!

For the duck, score the fat in a diamond shape and addsalt. Heat a grilling pan until it is almost smokey, put the duck on the pan (fat size down), reduce the heat to medium and let the fat melt for 8 minutes. Turn the breast around and cook for a further 5 minutes while pouring the liquid fat on top. Get rid of the fat and serve the breast cut in diagonal slices.  

You can serve this with raw apple slices (slice them very thinly and sprinkle them with lime juice) or put the apples in a pan with a tablespoon of butter and let them fry for a couple of minutes over medium heat (this is what my children prefer and therefor what you see in the picture). You can also serve it with a lentils salad  (mix a tin of lentils with a handful of chopped parsley, a handful of mint, a handful of basil, a handful of coriander, the juice and grated zest of half a lemon, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of olive oil; toss it all together)

RED FRUIT GRATIN

You need:

-       150 gr strawberries (cut in half)

-       150 raspberries

-       150 gr blueberries

-       3 tablespoons of sugar

-       3 tablespoons of port or sweet wine

-       3 egg yokes

Arrange the fruit on small baking dishes.

Separately mix the egg yokes, sugar and wine/port in a glass bowl. Put a pan with boiling water and put the glass bowl on top (ensuring that the bottom of the glass bowl does not touch the boiling water). Whisk energetically for 10 minutes until it becomes frothy and thick. Pour this over the red fruits and put the baking dish under the grill for a couple of minutes (or burn with a with a torch).

We did it with the torch and my older sons enjoyed it, but far too dangerous for my youngest.

PICADILLO - CHORIZO MINCE

Sorry for the long silence, but have spent most of the free time on the holiday writing the book. Have also made lots of progress on Inspiring Women, especially on trying to launch the campaign internationally  - with a bit of luck you will hear more on this in the next few weeks.

Anyway, back to food and to the blog: this is a recipe for picadillo, the meat that is used to make chorizo.

You need:

-       1 Kg pork shoulder and 50 gr pork belly (minced together – ask the butcher to mince them)

-       1.5 teaspoons of salt

-       1 clove of garlic (minced)

-       4 generous teaspoons pimenton (paprika)

-       3 teaspoons white wine

-       a pinch of cumin (powdered)

-       a teaspoon of oregano (dried)

Mix all the ingredients (use plastic gloves for this or you will smell of paprika for the rest of the day) and let them rest for 24 hours in the fridge covered with cling film. Fry it in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil for 10 minutes until it starts getting a bit brown.

Serve with eggs or bread or on its own.